Thomas inch birthday

[Roark]

Thomas Inch was born December 27, 1881, so for

most calculation purposes you can estimate 1882.

For example, if something happened when he was

age 10, then technically the date could be 1891,

but the odds are it was 1892.

Anyway, Inch is responsible for both the most famous

dumbell ever manufactured, and for the mystery of its

triplets, all of which reside in unknown places, except

for the most famous, the 172 pounder, which now

sits smugly in its container box in Ohio.

Inch made various claims in regard to this 172: that

only he had ever lifted it single handedly from floor to

overhead; that no one else could so much as deadlift it-

and this included some of the world's then strongest men.

His forte was in switching bells without the audience

being aware, and I suspect, but do not know, that the

usual manner of this sleight of hand was done by him

lifting one of the lighter bells at a certain point in his

performance, then that bell was taken offstage, and later

when the audience was challenged to lift it, the 172 was

brought out instead. Aston, who worked with the bells

for years, could not distinguish them by appearance,

so most certainly audience members sitting many yards

away, could not distinguish either.

From what study I have done, it appears that Inch

was never strong enough to lift the 172 one handed all

the way, and that those who think they witnessed him

lifting it, were watching a muscle magician in action.

We know for a fact that there were definite periods of

time when he acknowledged, though he did not realize

he was acknowledging it, that he was not strong enough

to lift the 172. And as he aged it was claimed he could

lift the 172 even when in his sixties- a feat he was unable

to do circa age 20 (after claiming earlier success). And he

claims that at age 50 it took him all day to gather the

strength to lift it a second rep, even though by this time

he had lifted it 'hundreds' of times over the years, and would

be able to lift it in his sixties, so it was said.

There is no doubt that Inch could Continental the 172,

and that the overhead part for him would be, literally,

easy. I suspect that he was even able to one-hand

Continental the bell, but one hand clean it? Nope.

[Guest Kit Old Dude Sonesen]

Thomas Inch, the man of mystery.

OD

[blueshadow]

Many thanx for the update on this trivia,Roark!!

                                  JJ